Youth Culture Today with Walt Mueller

All this week we’ve been looking at some of the latest data from the Pew Research Center on how parents of children ages twelve and under are managing the realities of life in a smartphone saturated world. One finding that should cause us to pause in our parenting steps is this: parents overwhelmingly think using social media does more to harm than benefit their kids. In fact, eighty-percent of pa...

All this week we’re looking at some of the latest data from the Pew Research Center on how parents of children ages twelve and under are managing the realities of life in a smartphone saturated world. One finding deserving our attention is this: that even for the youngest of our kids, the YouTube video platform is widely used. Eighty-five percent of parents say their child ever watches YouTube, wi...

All this week we’re looking at some of the latest data from the Pew Research Center on how parents of children ages twelve and under are managing the realities of life in a smartphone saturated world. Researchers found that about one in four parents of kids ages birth to twelve have a smartphone of their own. Did you hear that? We’re not talking kids who have access to someone else’s smartphone, b...

All this week we’re looking at some of the latest data from the Pew Research Center on how parents of children ages twelve and under are managing the realities of life in a smartphone saturated world. The survey found that screen use is starting young. Ninety percent say their kids interact with the TV screen. Almost seventy percent have kids who interact with a tablet. Sixty-one percent interact...

One of the youth culture realities all of us need to understand is what’s called “Age Compression.” Simply stated in layman’s terms, Age Compression means that the things today’s parents needed to navigate during their own teenage years are now things our pre-school and elementary-aged kids need to navigate. This means that pressures, problems, choices, and opportunities exist for kids who are at...

Why do so many parents tiptoe gingerly around their children in today’s world? More and more parents are afraid to step up, take the reins, and assume their God-given position of authority. Instead, parents have become like butlers, available to wait on and serve their kids’ every desire and whim. Fearing rejection, we sometimes go against our better judgment and God’s design to say yes when we sh...

It doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to see that there’s been a decline in parental sideline behavior over the course of the last few years. I recently watched a viral video where a referee had to stop a girls’ soccer game to address a parent who was allegedly heckling him over his calls. The video caught him saying this: “Do I look like I should be doing seven games in twenty-four hours. No...

Truth be told, I’ve been having some fun with AI. I’ve especially been having a good time with AI’s ability to create songs, and to manufacture photos. And of course, I’m not alone. I’m not surprised that today’s kids know a lot more about AI and how to leverage it than I will ever know. The Future Report Study found that in Europe, forty percent of teenagers us AI daily or almost daily. Many of t...

Today, I want to warn you about a dangerous substance abuse trend which centers around an increasingly popular herbal drug which is available online and in stores, including gas stations and vape shops. Known as Kratom – K-r-a-t-o-m – the drug comes from the tree of the same name that is native to Southeast Asia. Users chew the tree’s leaves, brew the leaves, or create a liquid extract. Users who...

Yesterday was the first Sunday in advent. Advent is the church season leading up to Christmas that’s all about expectation, waiting, and preparation. It’s a time to focus on the coming of the King and his Kingdom into the world. It’s a time to think about how God through his mercy and grace is restoring the world we’ve broken to its original purpose and glory through Jesus Christ. Sadly, its such...

When sixteen year old Maryland high school football player Taki Allen ate a bag of doritos following practice earlier this year, he crumpled up the bag and stuffed it in his pocket. All Allen was doing was waiting for a ride along with several of his teammates when several police cars showed up. With guns drawn, police instructed Allen to put his hands up and get on the ground. After getting handc...

Today we celebrate Thanksgiving. Many of us have gathered to enjoy a day filled with conversation, an abundance of food, and perhaps some football. If you’re like me, many of these long-held holiday traditions could wind up filling the day so full that we actually forget to pause and give thanks to God for His many blessings. This year, I’ve resolved to spend some time alone to pause and give than...

A current lawsuit case hitting the courts is one we need to be aware of if we love and lead kids. A seventeen year old New Jersey teenager is suing the company that created an AI app that will manipulate any photo, allowing app users to remove the clothing of the person in the picture. When she was fourteen and posting photos of herself on social media, a male classmate manipulated one of those ph...

Sometimes it’s the emergency room doctors who are the first to warn us about the latest online challenges kids are engaging in at the risk of death and injury. Without going into too much detail, there are several reports of burned and injured teens who have engaged in what’s called “the jam jar pulse jet” challenge. Thanks to several online tutorials, kids are pouring regular household rubbing al...

It’s been a few weeks since the initial arrests involving an FBI investigation into a widespread gambling network which included several people involved with the NBA. This story reminds us of just how prevalent gambling is, including sports gambling, which involves many of our kids who use online betting apps. For example, the New York Council on Problem Gambling is reporting that over the course...

In today’s digital age, viral social media trends are often seen as harmless fun, but they can pose significant spiritual and physical dangers to our children. These trends, driven by likes and shares, often encourage behavior that clashes with biblical values. They can lead our teens to seek validation from an online audience of their peers rather than from God, who created them uniquely in His i...

Today, I want to share with you a prayer for a wandering adult child, included in Kathleen Nielson’s wonderful book, “Prayers of Parents for Adult Children”: “Lord God, I do not know and cannot see her heart, but all her steps appear to turn away from you, away from light and life found in your Son. I know, Lord, that you see into the darkest heart; your perfect wisdom lays out all our paths. Plea...

Thanks to the continued rise of body-image pressure that has been fed and fueled by marketing and social media, our teenage boys are being encouraged to engage in what’s called “Testosterone-maxxing”, or “testmaxxing.” The practice involves attempts to increase male hormone levels through the use of hormone medications. A host of social media influencers have been building their following of teena...

From the time that our first parents chose to follow their own desires rather than God’s guidelines in Genesis three , our world and everything in it has been marred by sin. Consequently, our families are populated by broken people living with broken people. Because of this, our marriages are at times very difficult. And, parenting is difficult as well. We are broken parents raising broken kids. Y...

Parents, are you aware of the online chatbot service known as character.ai? Users can create virtual characters and personalities they can then interact with in a variety of ways. While users can engage with the chatbots to play games or assist with writing projects, the folks at Parents Together Action and Heat Initiative are telling us that when they engaged with character.ai while posing as tee...

In Proverbs twenty-nine twenty five we find words that speak volumes of truth which we need to hear in our social media-saturated world. “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” All of us struggle at times with making a good impression while wondering what other people think about us. This, according to Proverbs, is a snare, as it can become an obsession, trapping us...

I recently heard a theologian say that he has stopped trying to discern whether people he meets and knows are believers by asking them, “Are you saved?” Instead, he asks them this question: “Is Christ living in you?” He explained this switch by saying that many people today look back on a particular church service or camp experience where they raised their hand or went forward at the invitation to...

If you are thinking about helping your kids navigate the world of Artificial Intelligence in regards to research and gathering information, I want to read you some helpful words from professor, Dr. Thomas Fowler in a recent edition of Touchstone Magazine. “Do the chatbots add any value with their search capability? Basically, no; the behavior of chatbots is completely at variance with the methods...

There’s a scene in the 1986 movie “Wildcats” that was oft-imitated by kids trying to be funny back in the late 1980’s. A group of cheerleaders dance and chant at the other school’s cheerleaders, “U-G-L-Y you ain’t got no alibi! You ugly!” While the scene was intended to be funny, the real-life sentiment is still being dished-around as a biting criticism among the teenage population. In today’s soc...

How will you respond to your children when they make a mistake or do something wrong? What will you say if your daughter turns her back on all that you taught her and winds up sexually active and pregnant? What will you say if your son gets suspended from school for fighting? What will you do if you find drug paraphernalia in your teen’s room? What will you do if your daughter gets arrested for sh...